Mobile menu toggle

Use iTunes Album Artwork Screensaver As A Party Jukebox [OS X Tips]

By

photo (2)

One of the trickier things about creating a playlist for any party is making sure you have the right music for the people you’ve invited. Sometimes, though, you might want to give this nerve wracking process a miss, and let the guests at your house choose the music.

Here’s how to do just that, using nothing more than your Mac and the iTunes Album Artwork screensaver.

Ashton Kutcher And Josh Gad Will Talk ‘jOBS’ Biopic At Macworld/iWorld

By

JOBS_1

You’ve probably seen stills of Ashton Kutcher dressed up in 1970s Steve Jobs attire, and that’s because he’s playing the former Apple CEO in a new biopic called jOBS. His co-star, Josh Gad, is playing co-founder Steve Wozniak. The film is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and then hitting theaters in April.

The annual Macworld/iWorld conference kicks off later this month. Kutcher and Gad will be giving the opening talk, entitled “Playing Steve and Woz.”

Inexpensive Home Automation With This $99 Almond+ Touch-Screen Router and Almost Any Cheap(ish) Sensors

By

post-211320-image-6dbb851890d96f62d994bb13aaa68820-jpg

 

Home automation is here, but it isn’t cheap — unless you go the smart route with Securifi‘s new Almond+ router. For $100, this thing has much of what you’d expect from a top-tier router: Fast, next-gen 802.11ac compatibility (but still works with this-gen “n” devices), a claimed 5000 ft radius of coverage, four ethernet ports, a USB port and some slick mounting options.

This Prototype iPhone Dongle Blends The Magic of Kinect and the Wii — But The Best Is Yet to Come

By

post-211314-image-61d97d5a371bffe59348a84316f3d371-jpg

We caught wind of the Mauz iPhone dongle from Spicebox last week during CES, and promised you a closer look; here it is. You’ll remember that the dongle connects to your Mac over wifi and lets you control it from your iPhone in three unusual ways: by flicking your iPhone, waving your hand over it or making a 3D-model on your Mac mimic the movements of your iPhone in real space.

Grab This Limited Edition, Clear Apple Newton On Ebay And Be The Envy Of Us All

By

Anyone have a spare thousand dollars or so?
Anyone have a spare thousand dollars or so?

I still have a Message Pad 110 at my house. It’s the greenish-grey of the standard retail version of the Apple proto-PDA, and it still rocks. However, were I to have a spare $1350 to purchase this clear, limited production prototype Newton that was originally given out to some folks at Apple’s 1994 developer conference, I would jump at the chance. Seriously, they only made about 400 of these bad boys.

The auction on eBay ends on January 26, so if you’re hankering for this sweet bit of Apple history, now might be the time to jump in.

Temple Run 2 Hits 20 Million Downloads In Its First Week On The App Store

By

Even the game icon is surprised.
Even the game icon is surprised.

Today, Imangi Studios announced that Temple Run 2–sequel to runaway hit mobile game, Temple Run–recorded an outrageous 20 million downloads in its first week on the iTunes App Store. The game shot up to the number one free app in only eight hours, and is now the number 2 top grossing app on the App Store charts. Pretty amazing for a free to download game, right?

Get To A Saved Draft Faster On Your iPhone or iPad, Part Two [iOS Tips]

By

Draft iOS Mail

We’ve shown you how to get to an email draft on your iPhone before by tapping and holding on the Send button to bring up your most recent draft. At the time, though, that only brought up a single email, typically the last draft you had written.

These days, however, there’s a new thing happening, with a list of more than one draft appearing (if you have more than one). Here’s how to make that happen.

Simple Spreadsheets On The Go, But $2 Upgrade Is Almost Essential [Review]

By

Insert joke about spreadsheets here
Insert joke about spreadsheets here

I don’t do spreadsheets. Well, I do, but unwillingly. Numbers give me the shivers, they always have. I’m a words person. But everyone’s different – my wife is the opposite. She spends more time in spreadsheets than anything else. She might like this little app. It’s called Tables, and it does spreadsheets right on iPhone. Small, simple little spreadsheets.

LG Overtakes Apple To Claim Second Place In U.S. Phone Market Share [Report]

By

post-211276-image-3e0dfe25dddbf10bdb8c64b41794eac1-jpg

Just a few weeks ago, we reported that Samsung and Apple were the only two smartphone manufacturers seeing growth in the United States, and that the pair were slowly eating away at their rivals’ market share. But when you take old-fashioned feature phones into account, the situation looks a little different.

New data from Counterpoint Research suggests that strong December sales have helped LG overtake Apple to claim the second-largest stake of the U.S. phone market. As you might expect, Samsung is still way ahead in first.

How The iPhone 5 Compares To RIM’s Upcoming BlackBerry Z10 [Video]

By

iPhone-5-vs-BB-Z10

You may have noticed that people are making a lot fuss about Research in Motion’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices. And so they should. BlackBerry fans have been waiting for these handsets for several years, and they have high hopes for them. Furthermore, the devices are likely to determine whether or not RIM can save itself amid increasing competition from the iPhone and Android-powered devices.

The first BB10 devices won’t get their official unveiling until later this month, but numerous handsets have already found their way out into the wild. In the video below, a leaked BlackBerry Z10 goes up against the iPhone 5 in a comparison against size and form factor, as well as features.

Samsung VP Confirms Galaxy Note 8.0 Will Be Unveiled At MWC, Galaxy S IV ‘Soon’

By

post-211269-image-0f5e4b4be5c7b26adb351bc8b6c2dee7-jpg
The Galaxy Note 10.1 is about to get a little brother.

Samsung Mobile vice president JK Shin has confirmed to a Korean news outlet that the company will unveil the Galaxy Tab 8.0 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. The device, which is believed to be an iPad mini competitor, is expected to offer an 8-inch display with a 1280×800 resolution, coupled with a 1.6GHz quad-core processor.

Save TIme And Frustration By Disabling Safari Zoom In Function [OS X Tips]

By

Zoom In Safari Mouse or Trackpad

The latest version of Safari for OS X has an iOS-like behavior if you’re using an Apple Trackpad, Magic Mouse, or Magic Trackpad to browse the web. If you double tap on the trackpad or mouse, the view within the Safari window will zoom in, just like a double tap on your iPhone or iPad version of Safari zooms in to help you read the web page on the smaller screen.

If this annoys you, here’s how to disable it.

How To Hide iOS Apps Inside The Newsstand Folder Without Jailbreaking [Video]

By

Screen Shot 2013-01-21 at 13.56.35

If you want to hide some of the apps that come pre-installed with iOS — such as Stocks, Weather, or Game Center — there’s a nifty new trick that’ll allow you to place them into the Newsstand folder. No jailbreak is required — you don’t even need a computer — and you can hide as many apps as you like. You can also open them as you normally would from inside the Newsstand folder.

Here’s how the trick works.

Samsung Bashes iPhone’s Business Abilities In New Galaxy Commercial [Video]

By

post-211260-image-7f1aa567895154553993cc3d11aead0f-jpg

Apple has made the iPhone more enterprise-friendly with almost every release of iOS, but some might say the company’s popular smartphone still isn’t ideal for business. When I say “some,” I mean Samsung. The Korean company just released a strange new advert to promote the enterprise features of its Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, and it couldn’t help but bash the iPhone and even BlackBerry devices at the same time.

Apple To Launch ‘iPhone Math’ With Larger 4.8-Inch Display This June [Rumor]

By

cn_image.size.s-iphone-new-5-release

Apple is said to be preparing three new iPhone handsets for launch during 2013, two of which will appear in June, China Times reports. In addition to a slightly updated iPhone 5S, the Cupertino company is expected to unveil the “iPhone Math,” a larger device with a 4.8-inch display. Both devices are to offer improved internals and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Napkin Is An Essential Mac App For Editing And Annotating Images [Review]

By

Screen Shot 2013-01-20 at 5.35.03 PM

Skitch used to be my go-to Mac app for annotating images. Now I just use OS X’s Preview to get basic editing done in a pinch. As a blogger, I frequently deal with screenshots and images for posts. Sometimes you need to draw an arrow or draw attention to a certain part of an image. There’s never really been a good tool to do so, until Napkin.

Created by the guys at Aged & Distilled, Napkin is a new app in the Mac App Store that aims to help you with “concise visual communication.” If you’re a creative type, then this app should be in your tool belt.